Die harder.
Director: Renny Harlin
Producer: Joel Silver, Lawrence Gordon, Charles Gordon
One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.
124 min
Rating: 6.958/10
Released
Watch Trailer
Top Cast
Bruce Willis
John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia
Holly McClane
William Sadler
Stuart
John Amos
Major Grant
Franco Nero
General Ramon Esperanza
William Atherton
Richard Thornberg
Movie Info
Director: Renny Harlin
Producer: Joel Silver, Lawrence Gordon, Charles Gordon
Production Companies: Gordon Company, Silver Pictures, 20th Century Fox
Countries: United States of America
Now Streaming On
AMC Plus Apple TV Channel
AMC+ Amazon Channel
AMC+ Roku Premium Channel
AMC+
AMC
Similar Movies
Rosewood
1997-02-21
American Ninja 2: The Confrontation
1987-05-01
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
1973-06-26
Man on the Roof
1976-10-01
Unnaipol Oruvan
2009-09-18
The Blackout
2009-12-24
Bless Me Father
2023-05-16
The Pale Blue Eye
2022-12-22
12 Mighty Orphans
2021-06-18
Year of the Jellyfish
1984-11-07
Escape from Sobibor
1987-04-12
The Silent Partner
1978-09-07
The 39 Steps
1959-03-13
Cyborg 3: The Recycler
1995-12-19
The Whistle Blower
1986-11-21
The Postman Always Rings Twice
1946-05-02
Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest
1995-09-12
Damnation Alley
1977-09-10
American Bomber
2006-08-08
F/X
1986-02-07User Reviews
What Others Said
talisencrw:
Great fun re-watching this after checking out the original for the first time. One of the very best filmic franchises out there, to be sure.
GenerationofSwine:
I was 10 in 1990, I loved Die Hard, and I hated Die Hard 2.
Now I'm 40 and I am rewatching this and.... compared to movies today it is pretty good. If this was made in 2020 it would be a 10 out of 10 star smash blockbusting hit that all of America raves about except the "everything is political all the time crowd."
But it didn't, it came out in 1990 and because of that it was a subpar sort of BS action movie that in no way lived up to the first one.
The thing is... I'm writing the review in 2020. Today it's a good movie if you compare it to most everything in the theaters today and especially to the new Die Hard movies.
CinemaSerf:
If anyone were ever to need to write a training manual for terrorists that demonstrated how to maximise the chaos and destruction at a facility; then they could do a great deal worse than engage the services of Bruce Willis. In this cracking action adventure film, he is "Lt. John McClane" who finds himself amidst a hijacking - but this time it's not the plane that's being hijacked, it's the whole airport - and all so a drug-dealing general can escape justice with the help of some rogue highly trained military types. Willis has bags of charisma, and he needs it as he has to persuade sceptical authorities and other cops of the critical risk - and all before an incoming flight carrying his wife (with quite a fun little sub-plot of it's own) runs out of fuel. The dialogue is sometimes quite pithy, and Tom Bower is fine as "Marvin" (the janitor who gets roped in too). It does lack menace, maybe Willis' style of characterisation is just a bit too laid back; the smile and the glint - but it's still an end to end action thriller with plenty of pyrotechnics and near misses to fill a couple of hours in a world of mindless cinema. It's not quite as good at the first one, but there's not that much to it.
RalphRahal:
Die Hard 2 (1990) is a solid action movie that delivers high-energy sequences and a familiar setup, but it lacks the magic that made the first one a classic. The plot follows a similar structure, with John McClane once again caught in a high-stakes situation, but the tension does not feel as sharp this time. The script has its moments, keeping McClane’s signature humor and attitude intact, but it leans more on spectacle than smart problem-solving. The airport setting feels expansive, but it does not create the same sense of claustrophobic intensity as Nakatomi Plaza, making the action feel bigger but less impactful.
Renny Harlin’s directing keeps the pace fast, and the cinematography does a good job of maintaining momentum, but the action sequences feel more chaotic than calculated. Bruce Willis still carries the movie with his charisma, but the villains are less memorable, and the overall conflict does not feel as compelling. The score and sound design are effective in keeping the energy high, but they do not add much beyond standard action beats. Die Hard 2 is an entertaining sequel with plenty of action, but it feels like it is trying to recreate the first film rather than build on it.